Friday, 3 April 2015

100 Days Constructive change or election gimmick? By Kishani Samaraweera

Saturday, 28 March 2015 00:00

The 100-Day program promised during the election
campaign of the then common candidate has failed to deliver some of the
vital elements of its composition.

Overdue tasks of the 100-day
program are establishing of Independent Commissions, National Audit
Bill and the RTI Bill,Code of Conduct to be introduced and passed in
the Parliament according to the stipulated time frame and the
formulation of new election laws.

However, it should also be
noted that though some promises were not kept according to the expected
or rather promised plan, the government was able to fulfill such
promises as setting up a National Advisory Council, a Budget with
several cost of living relief measures, a salary increase, commission to
investigate corruption, implementation of the National Drug policy
within the stipulated time frame.With 25 more days left for the 100-dayprogram
to end it is worth noting the change of views of the political parties,
including those who openly pledged support to the government during
elections, as to what they think of this 100 day program. Some political
parties now claim that their part of the agreement is not fulfilled and
therefore they are much in doubt whether the government will be able to
implement the 100-day program as promised.

Tamil National
Alliance (TNA) General Secretary, Mavai Senathirajah talking to The
Nation mentioned that discussions took place between the President
Maithripala Sirisena, the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and
Chandrika Kumaratunga prior to the preparation of the 100 day program
and they agreed immediate relief for resettlement issues of Tamils in
the North and East, to probe into disappearances that happened during
the war and during the tenure of the past government and also to give
pardon to the Tamil prisoners. “They promised that those issues will be
addressed within the 100 days. But so far nothing has happened.
Therefore the TNA is very much in doubt whether the government will be
able to fulfill the other promises made to the public,” said
Senathirajah. He reiterated that the Tamil people voted for the
government with the intention that the concerns of the Tamil peoples
will be addressed.

Chairman, National Trade Union CentreK.D.
Lalkantha expressing his opinion said that one should accept the fact
that there has been a constructive change in the country compared to the
previous regime.

“Since Independent Commissions are being
established. There is less chance for the politicians to manipulate or
interfere with the functions and duties of a government body,” he said.
He also mentioned that they are satisfied with developments regarding
the making of the Right to Information bill (RTI) and Ethical code of
conduct.

“The country is now moving from the Executive
Presidency towards the Parliamentary system which is a very positive
move and was in fact a dire need of the country for a long time,” he
said.

However Lal Kantha expressed concern over the inaction of
the government regarding the corruption charges of officials. He pointed
out that the “National Government” which has been formed by the United
National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will never
look into incidents related to corruption which took place especially
from 2001 when the UNP was in power and from 2005 when it was the SLFP.

“How
can we expect proper investigations to be carried out and wrongdoers
punished from this national government? The situation will be the same
even after a year’s time,” he added.

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU)
Media Spokesperson Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe revealing the party’s
notion on the 100-day program said,”100-day program is nothing but a
piece of paper. We are not involved in making of the 100-day program but
only in making the manifesto.”

Expressing his ideas on the
proposed electoral system Warnasinghe mentioned that the focus should be
on promises made other than on technical aspects like time frames. “If
the government promised a set of things to the people they must make
sure that those are fulfilled,” he said.

Democratic Left Front
Leader, Vasudeva Nanayakkara was however very critical of the
government’s 100-day program, “The Head of the State, the President
started the 100-day program by usurping his power by removing the Chief
Justice undemocratically.”It is interesting to note that though
Nanayakkara do not agree with the government’s agenda, he thinks that
the implementation of the National Drug Policy was an excellent move and
the proposed electoral reforms also seem promising.“We hope that a
positive and a favorable electoral system will be introduced,” he said.
Another fact which is worth mentioning is that the JHU, who are not
happy with the present situation with regards to the constitutional
amendments being drafted, said amendments should be open, transparent
and democratic.

“It should not be happening secretly and nothing
can be done in a hurry. We feel that the manner the 19th amendment was
presented to the Parliament is clearly a conspiracy and we are
definitely not happy about it,” said the JHU Spokesperson.Ongoing
tasks of the 100-day program are amendments with regard to standing
orders, abolishing the Executive Presidency and replacing the current
system with a mixed electoral system.
Source: http://www.nation.lk/edition/news-features/item/39557-100-days-constructive-change-or-election-gimmick?.html